NextGen PRose

Blogging VS. Mainstream Journalists

One of my favorite online magazines, Slate, is running an interesting article entitled ‘Blog Overkill,’ which makes some great points about the state of blogging and the danger of “fetishizing a new technology,” as the author, Jack Shafer, puts it.  (Yes, the irony of blogging about an article on blog overkill did occur to me, but there are some interesting points.)

Shafer, while attending Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government conference on “Blogging, Journalism, and Credibility” noticed a growing sentiment of some bloggers who view themselves the “destroyers of the mainstream media.” If this were true (which I don’t think it is), wouldn’t it be extremely alarming?  The Society of Professional Journalists, in their mission statement, identifies a free press “the cornerstone of our nation and our liberty.”  While I think bloggers can definitely play a part in this, they admittedly don’t give the (mostly) accurate and comprehensive information provided by the mainstream press.